Panic
by FlonkertonChamp1
Summary: Post- "Company Picnic"... Pam has doubts about becoming a mother.


_Pam could hear the baby crying, but as she ran frantically through the house, the direction from which the cries came seemed to change._

"Baby, where are you?!" she sobbed, tears streaming down her face. "Dammit, where are you?!"

The cries were amplifying, beginning to surround her. She spun in circles, trying desperately to figure out where the screams were coming from.

"Where are you?!" she wailed in anguish.

She suddenly bolted upright in bed, gasping for air. Next to her, Jim startled awake and sat up next to her.

"Pam, what's wrong?"

She looked at him and burst into tears, falling into his arms. He held her tightly as she shook, sobbing.

"Shhh… it's okay. It was a dream… it was just a dream," he murmured in her ear, gently rocking back and forth. "It's okay… you're okay now." She pulled away and stared at him, her eyes wide with fear.

"I can't do this!" she squeaked.

"What?"

"I can't have a baby! I'm not ready! _We're_ not ready! We just got married, we can't have a kid yet!" Her voice rose in pitch and volume as she continued. "I don't know anything about kids! I'm horrible with kids! You saw me on Take Your Daughter to Work Day, none of them would talk to me, except for Meredith's delinquent son, and that was only after I showed him how to use the shredder! What the hell am I going to do when our kid gets bored, show him how to drive a car?!"

"Whoa, hey, slow down!" Jim said, gently shaking her. "What's going on? What was your dream about?" Pam let out a shaky sigh and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"It was horrible," she whimpered. "The baby was crying, but I couldn't find him. Everywhere I looked, I couldn't find him! Jim, I can't do this!"

He gently gathered her into his arms again and they lay back down. She settled in the crook of his arm and buried her face in his neck.

"I'm scared, Jim. I don't know if I can do this."

Jim pulled away a bit to look at her.

"Hey… look at me." Pam looked up with tearful eyes.

"You can do this. _We_ can do this." He put his hand over the small bump that was just starting to form on her abdomen. "This is _our_ baby. You're never going to have to do any of it alone. I promise. And hey, we have 6 months before the baby comes… we'll buy every parenting book ever written, and by the time the baby's here, we're going to know everything there is to know." Pam let out a small laugh and gave him a shaky smile.

"Look at you, Dr. Spock."

Jim furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Wait… Dr. Spock? Like, on Star Trek?"

"No, you big goof," Pam laughed. "Dr. Spock is like, a world baby expert."

"See? You do know some things about babies."

Jim could feel her relaxing as he gently trailed his fingers along her arm, something he knew always soothed her when she was upset.

"And you know what?"

"Hmm?"

"I get scared sometimes too. I think all parents do. I know my brothers did."

"Yeah, but… God, there are so many mistakes we might make, you know? I'm so scared I'll do something wrong."

"Me too… and you know, that's okay. All parents make mistakes. Mine made some mistakes with us. Did I ever tell you about the time when my mom locked herself out of the house?"

"Nope… were you with her?"

"No, this happened when Tom was like, two. Mom was pregnant with Pete at the time. Dad told me about it. He thinks it's hilarious… Mom, not so much." Pam giggled.

"Anyway, Mom had come home from the grocery store. She took Tom out of the car seat and put him down so she could get the groceries."

"Oh my God, did he run out in the street or something?!"

"No, no, no, nothing like that. He actually went right to the back door and waited for her."

"So what happened?"

"Patience, Grasshopper," Jim said with a smirk. "So, she got the groceries from the car and took them to the back door. She set them down and opened the door, and she put the keys on the kitchen counter. She turned around to get the groceries, and Tom, being the little devil that he was… is… ran inside and closed the door."

"Oh, no."

"Oh, yes. And the door locked from the inside, so… she was locked out."

"Oh, my God! And this is supposed to make me feel better?!"

"Yes! The point I'm trying to make is that nothing horrible happened. The neighbor had a key, so everything was okay. I mean, the ice cream melted, and Tom pulled all the pots and pans from the cabinet, but that was it. And we got a nice little family story out of it. Can't you just see us with our kids, telling them about how their Uncle Tom locked their poor Grandma out of the house?" Pam burst into a fit of giggles.

"Yeah, actually, I can."

Jim laughed along with her. "See? We can do this. And Little Halpert here isn't going to care how good of a conversationalist you are. All he's going to care about is that his belly's full and his butt's clean. You're going to be an amazing mom."

Pam reached up and caressed his cheek, and he leaned down to gently kiss her. She draped her arm over his waist and snuggled back into him. Jim held her tightly, his hand on her stomach as they drifted back off to sleep.

"Hey, Jim?"

"Hmm?"

"You're going to be an amazing dad.


End file.
